Love is Painful
by espergirl04
Summary: After a botched undercover job, Gracie Hart finds herself lying in a hospital bed. Not only that, she finds herself visited by someone she thought she never wanted to see again. GracieEric. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

One-shot, a Gracie/Eric fic set after the second movie. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters or anything that has to do with the movies…so please don't hurt me.

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This was so not how she had planned things to go. No, instead of her saving the day she had somehow wound up on a hospital gurney…bleeding…from three gunshot wounds. With short hair that had so much gel in it she doubted it had been affected by any of the night's activities. So not fun. How had this happened? It had all started with a simple undercover task.

"HART!"

"Yes sir?"

"Here."

And McDonald had handed her a file and off she went with Fuller as her "manager." An international modeling tour, what fun. Vic had showed up at least, obviously she couldn't keep the same look after all her TV time. Honestly, she couldn't even walk out of her apartment without being harassed by fifty billion people wanting autographs.

So her hair had been chopped off until the longest layer barely reached below her chin and then it was dyed jet black. It was supposedly a "pixie" look but she hadn't heard of any pixies that carried around guns strapped to their thighs. Then her wardrobe had been changed from chic to well…more skank like. Lacy spaghetti strap tops that looked more like lingerie and tight beyond tight flared hip huggers. Apparently they were very in style and fashionable. And of course her name had been changed…no more Gracie for her…instead she had to endure being called Raven.

Quickly she had decided that she would take beauty queens over super models any day. These girls were skinny beyond belief, perfect, mutant people…with horrible personalities. "Move fatty!" Had been the first thing anyone ever said to her. Lovely really.

Her job was similar to that in the Miss USA pageant, protect the girls. It was obvious that whoever it was threatening them wouldn't strike overseas, too much of a risk, the CIA might get involved. They had started in New York, then on to Paris, London, France, Berlin, Moscow, then to Miama, Houston, Las Vegas, Chicago, and finally back to New York. She knew it would most likely be Miama seeing as it was the first place they would fly back into the US. Since the whole tour began in New York, the FBI station there had gotten dibs on it. Too bad, at the moment she wouldn't have minded if someone else had gotten to go undercover.

She could hear people talking but couldn't manage to open her eyes.

"Is she going to be okay?" It sounded like Fuller. Of course she was going to be okay…but for some reason she couldn't get her mouth open to console her partner. God she was in pain, stupid idiot…whoever had shot her was going to pay.

A weird sensation came over her as she felt herself being moved from the gurney to the bed. What if she died? What if she could never open her eyes again? That was scary; she didn't want it to end like this.

"She's FBI right? Shouldn't she have been wearing a bullet proof vest?"

Exactly, that's why they should have just let her wear a one-piece…although that might not have looked so nice.

"She was doing a photo shoot in a bikini."

"And…why exactly was she targeted?"

"Had to blow her cover. Look, is she going to be all right or not?" Fuller's voice took on that tone that Gracie knew oh so well. Those nurses wouldn't stand a chance.

"Truthfully? We don't know yet."

"WHAT?"

Suddenly the pain started to numb, oooh, felt nice. Oh, felt weird, her whole body was going numb. How much painkiller were they shooting into her?

"Could you please go out in the hall? We have to begin operating."

"Fine," Fuller snapped. "Hang in there Gracie," she said.

They started in on a whole bunch of medical terms and Gracie found herself tuning out. Hmm…sleep would be nice, that was it, she would sleep.

"Gracie?"

Voices again, couldn't they just leave her alone?

"Come on Gracie, I know you're tougher than this."

Why did that voice sound so oddly familiar?

"God Gracie, don't do this to me. I already feel guilty enough."

So familiar…

"I never stopped loving you, all right? But I had to break it off, things were moving fast and then I got offered a better job, and I thought that I was doing the right thing. Looks like I was wrong."

Oh…my...God…Eric…that's who it was. If only she could move, hitting him might have made her feel better. A hand covered hers and then broken sobs reached her ears.

"God Gracie, I loved you…I still love you…"

Shit. Now what. A man whom she had loved was now sobbing that he still loved her after breaking her heart. And she couldn't do anything about it. She tried moving her hand, wait a minute, there it was. After a great amount of energy she managed to curl her fingers around his. She felt his hand tighten.

"Can you hear me Gracie?"

Open…mouth…must speak… "Yes," she managed to croak. Now time to open her eyes. Ouch, the lights were bright. His face came into view and she felt tears tug at the corner of her eyes. She couldn't cry, she was Gracie Hart, and Gracie Hart didn't cry. "What're you doing here…"

"I'm stationed in Miami and obviously heard what happened, how could I not be here?"

Wow did she want to hit him, although a swift kick in the shins would do nicely too. "Why'd you leave me then…"

"Gracie…I don't think now's the time for that…I mean…you're…well…"

NO, she was going to die wasn't she! "This sucks…"

"Yeah, I can imagine."

"Eric…"

He gently cupped her face with his hand and for a moment it made her feel better, it made her feel safe. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to die, aren't I…" there, now she would finally know the whole, horrible, truth.

"No, you aren't. The doctors said that if you woke up then you had an excellent chance of surviving."

"Where'd that bastard manage to hit me?"

"Right shoulder, right leg, and he grazed you here," she felt his fingers run across the left side of her abdomen. "You got lucky Hart, really lucky."

"Mmm…" she was starting to feel sleepy again…but there was something she needed to know first. "You going to leave me again?"

"Not this time, I'm not leaving you again."

"Forever?" that painkiller must be kicking in again…she was getting all sappy.

"Yeah I'll stay with you forever," he whispered in her ear.

"Eric?"

"Yeah, Hart?" he was stroking her hair back now.

"Do you…do you really love me?" Oh God, it must be the painkiller talking, it had to be.

"You heard that?" he sounded apprehensive.

"Yeah I heard it."

"Then I guess I can't lie to you then. I love you Hart, alright?"

"Mmm…alright. Eric? I think I love you too…" Yeah, definitely the painkillers. She let sleep over come her and felt Eric rest his head on her chest, playing with her hair. Even though the situation sucked horribly, she still felt content…or at least she would until Fuller burst in and started yelling at Eric to move his lazy ass and let Gracie get some rest…but other than that (and the fact that she was in the hospital due to being shot), complete contentment.

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Please review and let me know what you think! If enough of you want me too then I may write a second chapter going either more in depth to their new relationship or what exactly went on while she was undercover. 


	2. Mystery Him or Her

I finally wrote a continuation to Love is Painful, YAY! Sorry it took so long. A special thank you to **beauty0102 **for prodding me into finishing it. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't own Miss Congeniality or any of the characters or any of the quotes from Miss Congeniality that I used…so please be nice to me.

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"Good to see you back working for us," McDonald's voice carried through the hall and Gracie pushed herself back from her desk. She craned her neck but could only make out McDonald's back. It couldn't be _him_…or could it. No, it couldn't. 

She had been back in New York for a week and was currently confined to her desk. At least she was out of the hospital; she had gotten tired of staring at an extremely sterile looking white wall. Eric had visited her every day, he claimed it was so she wouldn't drive the nurses crazy with her oh so charming personality. It was surprising really, how you could go from loving someone, to hating someone, to liking someone. As a friend. That was all. Definitely.

Fuller had been forced to leave a few days after the accident to file a full report and then get back into the action. Before she had left she had told Gracie to…what was it… "Give that idiot lovesick boy a chance" or something to that effect. She had…kind of…not really.

"_Then I guess I can't lie to you then. I love you Hart, alright?"_

"_Mmm…alright._ _Eric? I think I love you too…" _

That conversation had definitely become a factor, but when she became more coherent they had discussed it and came up with a decision. That they would leave things as they were, for a while at least. Gracie would go back to New York, Eric would stay in Florida, they would phone each other and if it turned out they really couldn't live without each other they would come up with something.

Turning back to her scattered piles of paper she pushed her coffee mug to the side and ran a hand through her hair. It stopped at her shoulder and she brought a few strands in front of her face to examine them. It probably needed to be dyed again. She actually liked it black, Victor would be pleased to know, he had said that it suited her personality. And her 'model name,' ugh, Raven…she couldn't believe that she had had to endure that.

For some reason she couldn't bring herself to concentrate on her work, hearing that there was a new or old, depending on how you looked at it, employee standing out there made her wonder…maybe Fuller would know. Getting up she limped out the door and looked around, McDonald and the mystery man or woman was gone, but she knew exactly where to find Fuller.

"You missed," she said grinning.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Fuller snapped. "So, what's up?" she put the training gun down and turned to her friend.

"I heard McDonald talking to someone new, well, they used to work here apparently," she tried to sound nonchalant but couldn't help a little apprehension enter her voice.

Fuller shook her head, "Sorry, can't tell you anything," she picked the gun up again.

"Can't tell me because you don't know anything or can't tell me as in you don't want to?" Gracie questioned.

"Can't tell you that either."

"Oh come on, what are you like in third grade?"

"No, just don't feel like telling you."

Gracie groaned in frustration and was more than annoyed by Fuller's smug smirk. "Fine, I'll just find out myself."

"Go for it."

Looking around Gracie tried to find McDonald to question him, or anyone who might know. Coming around a corner she felt her leg give out as she collided with something, cursing she looked up to find a hand in her face. Taking it she allowed herself to be helped up, only to find herself looking at the mystery man or woman, man as it turned out to be, a man that she knew. It couldn't be _him_. Oh it so was.

"Eric!" she was disgusted when it came out as a surprised squeak. Smoothing down her black blouse and skirt she self-consciously flicked her hair back. "Erm…hi, what are doing here?" she cleared her throat nervously. Why did he make her feel this way?

"I work here again, transferred back, things just weren't as exciting down there," she was glad to see that he too looked nervous.

"Oh, well, glad to see you back," she made a move past him but he placed a hand on her arm, gripping her firmly.

He looked at her seriously, "All right, so I moved back for a reason. I tried to forget about you, I really did but I couldn't. So, I decided to come back, I never should have left in the first place."

Oh God, she was melting, she Gracie Hart was actually melting. In a strictly metaphorical sense, "I couldn't forget about you either."

He suddenly hugged her close to him, "So what do you say Gracie, should we start over," he murmured in her ear.

"That depends," she sounded slightly muffled as her head was buried in his shoulder.

"And what's that?"

"You can't leave me again," she looked up at him.

"I don't think that would be possible," he kissed her fully on the lips and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Good."

"So you're back with Eric then?" Vic was doing her hair.

"Yes," it had been three months since he had moved back and one since they had started sharing an apartment together.

He smiled at her in the mirror, "I always knew you two were meant for each other…my little girl…growing up," he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Haha, you're so amusing, are you done yet?"

"Almost."

Six months later she found herself sitting in front of Vic once again as he piled her hair on top of her head, "Are you done yet?"

"No, this is a very delicate process," he stuck yet another bobby pin in.

"I think there's more metal now than hair," she whined.

"Hush," he commanded. When he was done he turned her towards the mirror and held up a smaller one behind her so she could see it. It was beautiful, it was beyond beautiful.

"Wow, you've definitely outdone yourself," she couldn't stop smiling and he smiled as well.

"It's your wedding, of course I'm going to outdo myself," he kissed the top of her head.

She adjusted the straps on her dress and ran her hand over the fitted bodice; she turned around and studied herself in the mirror. It was tight and sleek, flaring out at her feet, the material shimmered softly and diamonds sparkled around the V shaped neckline.

"You look gorgeous Gracie," Cheryl came up behind her, "Wow," she hugged her; "I knew everything would work out for you."

Fuller came up next to her as well, "You had to choose pink didn't you," she motioned down at the light pink bridesmaid dress with the sweeping skirt.

"You know I chose that specifically for you," Gracie said with an evil smirk.

"I know it, your lucky I love you so much," she replied dryly.

Stretching out luxuriously in the sand Grace rolled over and flung an arm over Eric's bear chest. He fiddled with the black strings on her top and she slapped his hand away, "We're on a public beach you know."

"I know I know, be good," he groaned.

"You think I'm gorgeous, you want to kiss me... You want to hug me... You want to love me..." she started in her sing-song voice; he interrupted her with his mouth on hers.

"Does that count as inappropriate?" he asked after a while.

"Nope…it is our honeymoon after all."

"Is this inappropriate?" he started to squeeze her sides and she started to laugh until she was wheezing.

"Yes, yes it is!" she squealed and managed to get out of his grip. Standing up she ran towards the clear water and looked over her shoulder pleased to see he was chasing after her. Hitting the warm water she kept going until he tackled her. Falling into shallow water they laughed and she maneuvered herself until she was on top.

"I love you Eric."

"I love you too," he began but she cut him off.

"However, tickle me like that ever again and I will be forced to inflict pain upon you."

"Even though I'm your husband?" he asked curiously.

"Even though you're my husband," she leaned forward and kissed him feeling his arms slide around her they fell back into the water…or at least they were going to until a little boy appeared staring at them in horrified fascination and his mom had to come and drag them away…giving them a very stern and disgusted look. That was when they decided to take it back to their hotel room…it was their honeymoon after all.

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I hope it wasn't to confusing, please review and I hope you liked it! 


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